Clyde contractors hope for big overseas jobs
Partnering the West German firm, Ed Zublin, in the contract to build the Clyde dam could have lucrative spin-offs for the Christ-church-based company. W. Williamson Construction, Ltd.
Directors of the company hope that their role in the Clyde job will open the doors to sought-after overseas contracts, possibly in continued association with Ed Zublin. The German company was set up in 1898 and has an international reputation for civil engineering and commercial construction work, having completed projects in more than 30 countries.
Ranked the fifth largest contractor in West Germany and -sixtieth in the world in
1981. Ed Zublin has an annual turnover of about $5OO million. Almost a third of its work is in overseas civil engineering contracts.
It has a registered stock capital of $ll million, and employs 790 civil and mechanical engineers. 645 administrators, and 6100 artisans and unskilled labourers.
Two construction projects — in Iraq and Honduras — will run concurrently with the Clyde project, and Ed Zublin has just completed a big concrete arch dam at Kolnbrein, Austria, which was twice the size of the Clyde dam.
In contrast, W. Williamson Construction, Ltd, founded in
the 19305, employs a fulltime staff of 200. It has offices in Christchurch and Auckland, from which it takes on construction projects throughout the country.
The company has constructed several buildings in Christchurch, including the central police station, the law courts’ library, and it handled the reconstruction of the Centennial Pool. Further afield, the company built the Epsom Teachers’ College, various buildings at Auckland Airport, and is building the Waitemata city administration buildings. Involvements in power projects has included construction of the geothermal
power station at Wairakei and the tailrace tunnel at Manapouri.
The company's overseas experience has been limited to roadworks in Fiji. It has tendered unsuccessfully for contracts in Papua New Guinea.
The Williamson-Zublin tender of $102.6 million, later revised to $lOB.B million, was the lowest of seven submitted for the Clyde contract.
Just over a quarter of the money spent on the dam is expected to go overseas, through the purchase of plant, spare parts, penstock plates, sea and air freight costs, payment of expatriate staff, and insurance.
Clyde contractors hope for big overseas jobs
Press, 2 October 1982, Page 7
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